Intercontinental Chicago O’Hare - Please note this is no longer an Intercontinental Hotel!
Transportation
After quite a long walk, I arrived at the bus and shuttle part of the airport. I got the hotel shuttle to the hotel - the bus was very luxurious compared to other hotel buses and the driver was super friendly. It was a 10 min ride to the hotel and was very painless.
Check-in
Booked – 1 King Bed Deluxe Room.
Actual - Room No 504. 1 King Bed Junior Suite (upgraded online the night before).
Room
Overall Impression - A bit like a posh Ikea hotel......! I had heard great things about this hotel but although the room was very large, it lacked any sort of personality. It is a real airport hotel however I must admit I was just a little disappointed after all the great reviews. Nothing I could say was bad at all just not what I expected from an Intercontinental.
Ambassador Perk - My Ambassador welcome fruit was nothing exciting but it did all look fresh. I was also given 2 bottles of Evian water. My Ambassador welcome gift was a packet of popcorn – tasty but slightly underwhelming!
View – Awful - just a view of the air conditioning ducts and a roof.
Bathroom - the best part of the room. It was outstanding and had the biggest shower I have ever seen. The rain shower was great but I would like to see better hairdryers - the one in the room looked and sounded good but I may as well have just stuck my head out the window as I think it would have been quicker to dry my hair that way!
Toiletries – Aguaria toiletries - I like the smell but they do not seem as luxurious as the Elemis ones I have had at other Intercontinental hotels although it seems that this is the new brand they now use. The soap was very nice and I don't normally like soap.
The turndown service was welcome - curtains closed, dressing gown moved to the bathroom and a chocolate on my pillow, which was very tasty! I could hear a bit of airport noise but nothing too bad. The room temperature was nice and apart from waking up at midnight for no reason, I slept extremely well in the very comfy bed.
Fresco 21
I ate at the new restaurant in the hotel and I sat having a couple of glasses of wine prior to dinning. The atmosphere was fine - typical hotel bar - and they had a good selection of wines. The menu looked tasty - it was a Tapas style menu and one that I welcomed, as I hate to eat a lot on my travels - just bits and pieces. I ordered the house side salad and the Greek meatballs with flatbread and tzatziki. Both were delicious and enough for me, despite the waitress try to encourage me to eat more! However their cutlery left a lot to be desired - the fork was 'top heavy' and looked like something a baby would use. It was so unevenly heavy that it kept falling off my plate and was very irritating! The food is good and the staff are friendly so I would recommend this place if you don't want to leave the hotel!
I was given free breakfast with my rate and this was in the Fresco 21 restaurant and finished at 1030. My chit was for the continental breakfast and it also included the tax and gratuity - sometimes free breakfasts are not totally free so it was nice to see that this one was!! I had some fruit and a yogurt plus a lovely glass of orange juice. If you wanted to pay for hot stuff there was about 6 different items available.
Check out was painless and I caught the hotel bus back to the airport. It goes every half hour.